UK to recognise Palestine unless Israel agrees ceasefire and ends Gaza suffering

Starmer convened a meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday - amid mounting pressure to recognise a Palestinian state

cancel email WhatsApp link share Share bookmark Save

share cancel email WhatsApp link bookmark

Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire and takes steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza.

The Prime Minister confirmed that Britain is prepared to join France in formally recognising Palestinian statehood as he appeared to bow to mounting pressure from his Cabinet and backbenchers.

Speaking after an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet, the Prime Minister said that the UK could recognise Palestine as soon as the United Nations General Assembly in September, unless Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza”, issuing an ultimatum to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

It marks a significant shift in the British stance on the issue after images showing people starving in Gaza provoked global horror. More than 230 backbench MPs and almost a third of the cabinet have been pressing the Prime Minister to change his position.

Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, have all been pushing for recognition.

The question is if this satisfies Starmer’s backbenchers and French President Emmanual Macron, who has called for Britain to join the recognition of Palestine. Starmer may find he has gone too far for Trump and other sceptics.

Labour MPs told The i Paper Starmer’s move is tantamount to recognition of Palestine since there’s no chance the Israelis will sign up to the conditions.

But others noted Starmer’s conditions had left himself room for manoeuvre in the coming weeks.

The Labour chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of MPs, Dame Emily Thornberry, warmly praised the decision.

She told The i Paper: “I hope this is the beginning of some very serious work that the UK now needs to commit to – with our partners and our friends – in order to put together a peace proposal that we could then discuss with Donald Trump.”

The MP for Islington South and Finsbury said she hoped Trump would “show that he has the strength of 12 presidents” in his dealings with Israeli leader Benjamin Netenyahu. And she said the PM’s statement would be a signal to those in the Israeli population who want peace.

Thornberry’s crossparty committee published a report last week urging the UK government to move forward in recognising the state of Palestine. She suggested this, as well as pressure from MPs, had contributed to the Government’s decision.

Talk, from some of the right of the Israeli government, about annexing part of the West Bank had also made the situation more “urgent”, she added.

Sarah Champion, the Labour chair of the international development committee, said she was still a “little concerned” Starmer’s conditional recognition of Palestine.

“It’s a really big movement. It will politically be a very strong message that we are sending to Israel – that we believe in the self-determination of the Palestinian people and that she status quo is not good enough,” she told the BBC’s PM radio programme.

“I am a little concerned though that from what I’m hearing it seems to be conditional on Israel accepting some terms and I don’t understand why the two things are being linked together,” she added.

Starmer discussed the plans with President Donald Trump in Scotland on Monday in response to concerns that Gaza is on the brink of a “humanitarian catastrophe”, experiencing mass starvation.

After a 90-minute Cabinet meeting Starmer said he would put conditions on Israel, saying recognition of Palestine would take place unless the country reaches a ceasefire, makes clear there will be no annexation in the West Bank, and commits to a long-term peace process that delivers a Two State Solution.

Starmer also told the “terrorists of Hamas” that they must release all hostages, agree a ceasefire and disarm, and play no part in governing Gaza.

While at least six Cabinet ministers had expressed the view Starmer should speed up recognition of Palestine, No 10 had so far resisted, wanting to make a statement at the moment of maximum impact.

As late as Monday, Starmer’s spokesman had insisted the premier was not minded to recognise Palestinian statehood until the conditions are right, although he had added it was a question of “when not if”.

Israeli soldiers work on their tanks near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel (Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen)

Starmer denied he had bowed to pressure from his Cabinet. Asked by reporters after the meeting why he had taken the decision, the premier said the “situation now is absolutely catastrophic, which is why I’ve taken this decision today”.

He insisted recognition of Palestine has been a “longstanding Labour Party policy”: “It was in our manifesto, we talked about the right of the Palestinians to recognition, and we’ve always said that will be part of the process, and that it would be an important part of the point that we thought it would have maximum impact.”

He added: “It’s driven today by two things. Firstly, the context in the intolerable situation in Gaza, which is getting worse by the day, but also because of the concern that the very possibility of a Two State solution is reducing.”

Starmer said UK aid has been airdropped into Gaza on Tuesday, adding there needs to be 500 trucks entering Gaza every day to make a difference. Ultimately, the only way this humanitarian crisis will end is through a “long-term settlement”, Starmer said, adding that he’s supporting efforts for a ceasefire.

Speaking at the UN, Foreign Secretary David Lammy was applauded as he said the UK would recognize the State of Palestine when the UN General Assembly meets in a matter of weeks in September.

“Britain is ready to play its full and historic part,” Lammy said told the meeting in New York.

He said, in Gaza, “children are starving and Israel’s drip-feeding of aid has horrified the world”.

Lammy said the UK’s history in the development of the state of Israel means “Britain bears a special burden of responsibility to support the two state solution”.

He said the Balfour Declaration – the UK government’s support for the development of a Jewish state – had contained “the solemn promise” that it would not prejudice the rights of the Palestinian people but this had “not been upheld.”

Lammy declined to comment on whether Starmer had informed Trump of his change in position in advance. No 10 will now wait to see the reaction from both Jerusalem and Washington DC.

Meanwhile, Starmer must not use the recognition of Palestine as a “bargaining chip”, opposition parties warned.

“Rather than use recognition, which should have taken place many months ago, as a bargaining chip, the Prime Minister should be applying pressure on Israel by fully ceasing arms sales, and implementing sanctions against the Israeli cabinet. So too must the UK Government urge Hamas to unconditionally release the hostages,” Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey said in a statement.

Green Party MP Ellie Chowns, said: “What Starmer has said today suggests Palestinian statehood is a bargaining chip, only to be awarded if the Israeli government fails to end the genocide in Gaza and agrees to a range of other conditions such as allowing the UN to restart the supply of aid and ending annexations in the West Bank.”